Word of Salvation – Vol.08 No.37 – September 1962
The Battle For The Truth
Sermon by Rev. J. F. H. Van der Bom on Matthew 5:33-37
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 45:18-25; Ephesians 4:17- end
Hymns: 333; 249:3; 232:1,2,3,4,7; 435; 467
Translated by John Westendorp.
Translator’s note: early editions of ‘Word of Salvation’ still had some sermons in Dutch for the migrant communities that then made up the Reformed Churches of Australia.
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
We say it so easily that God can do anything. That is what we tell our children, and that is how it is written in God’s Word, that with the Lord nothing is impossible. And yet, according to the Bible, there is one remarkable exception to this rule of God’s omnipotence. There is one thing that God absolutely cannot do. For, as we read: God is not a man that He can lie, or a child of man that He can repent.
This Bible word is very sharp and cutting. You know, when we, humans, talk about “omnipotence”, about someone who can do everything, and with whom all things are possible, then it quickly starts to smell. Being able to do everything quickly has the aftertaste of “being able to go in all directions!” But such a questionable kind of being able to do everything is definitely unthinkable with God. Being able to go in all directions? Going back on His once given word? Break covenant promises? Undo his oaths? In this area, man is apparently capable of far more than God himself. But God is not a man. God binds Himself under oath, and He keeps His oaths. This remarkable subject is discussed here, in the Sermon on the Mount. And we have already read something about this in the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah, that God Who is not a man, and Who certainly has no need for swearing oaths, nevertheless bound Himself under oath to His people. And He still does so every time. Do you ever think about that? Every time the sacrament is administered in church, the Lord gives us, as it were, His divine handshake. Sacrament actually means: oath, covenant oath. And at every baptism Jesus gives us His hand on it that He does not want any of our children to be lost. And as often as Holy Communion is administered, He swears to us again that He wants you completely, that He wants to own you in eternal glory. In the sacraments God binds Himself under oath . And in fact our first, immediate reaction should then be the same as that of Peter at the washing of the feet: Lord, but that must not happen! You do not have to swear an oath for me !
Let us especially keep two things well apart. It is God, the Lord, Who Himself instituted the sacraments. But our confession (article 33) immediately adds, for what purpose: in view of our coarseness, God instituted them. Just as it may sometimes be necessary, in view of naughty children, for a father or mother to say something extra loudly, or with special emphasis, so God, Who cannot lie, Who always means what He says , now considers it very necessary to seal His promises to us in sacramental language, and under oath.
As I said, every sacramental ministry should provoke this reaction in us that we would long all the more for that great Day when there will be no more sacraments, and no more churches, and no more ministers, and no more sermons. Confessions that are not kept, and “decisions for Christ” that are later swallowed up, will then no longer need to be made. Then there will also be no more need for oaths. For the question: what is truth? will then have been settled forever. For God will be All and in all – and “they shall all know Him, from the least to the greatest.”
That will be the fulfilment of the kingdom of heaven, which is the kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
In the Sermon on the Mount our Saviour is continually explaining the foundations of that Kingdom. One thing in particular He makes very clear: that Kingdom is not just a “future dream” – it is already here NOW, with the disciples where Christ Himself is in the midst!
Yet we may safely say that nothing has hurt our Saviour as much as the lying, the untruth among men. Not without reason has He given the devil the telling nickname of: murderer-from-the-beginning, father of lies, because he is not of the truth!
It must have been terrible for Jesus to experience every day among His fellow countrymen, even in prominent circles, that people tried to talk themselves into piety with all kinds of big words.
The Dutchman is said (and it is a very dubious honour) to have advanced very far in the sin of swearing, and perhaps to be superior in this respect to any other nationality.
The story only becomes more painful when it is also added that this is probably related to the religious, Christian character of the Dutch people.
We have certainly taken that from the Jews. The closer to the temple, the more meanly you are deceived. And the closer to the Bible, the more blatant the untruths!
The only excuse one could give is that it is certainly not easy to be near the sanctuary! Or would someone say that being a Christian is a piece of cake? It is easier to make a mess.
And of course, in this realm of the sacred the Rabbis had yet again devised a subtle trick, and invented one of those beautiful theological distinctions of which they were such masters.
Look, they said, there is of course a difference in truth. The truth you tell during a visit probably does not have to be of the same quality as the truth you testify to before the Judge, for example.
And the truth in the church is of course of a totally different quality than the truth in trade, at the market or in the stock exchange. Business is business is it not? If you just keep a close eye on that, you’ll always be okay.
“By the gold of the temple,” said the Jew; or, “as sure as a dead sheep lies on the altar,” but “you may be sure that I always tell the truth.” But afterwards he could calmly set his conscience free (or so he thought), for, you see, he had not sworn by the temple itself. His oath had as much value as the oath of a German on a hair of the emperor’s red beard.
And afterwards you got the laconic answer (with a straight face): but I didn’t say anything, man, I don’t feel bound. This was NOT an oath, I didn’t call on GOD.
It is against this mentality among His people that the Saviour protests in holy indignation in the Sermon on the Mount, and also in Matthew 23. As if there were two kinds of truth! Have you ever heard it put like that, children? Do you learn this at school: true, truer, truest? True, more true, less true, just as it can be cold, colder or the coldest day today! That is of course all well and good. But with people who believe that something can be more true, or less true, we will have to keep a close eye on that kind of talk. And in the eyes of Jesus, such a distinction, between a truth that applies to God, and another, lesser truth that applies outside of God, in the world, is a great abomination.
Do you know when your Saviour must have felt most deeply hurt and grieved? At that moment when the High Priest of God’s people Himself wanted to make Jesus swear under oath to Who He really was. “Jesus, and now I adjure You – and remember – now above all speak the truth, Jesus!”
Do you not feel a shudder down your spine, congregation? How awful of that High Priest, to dare to ask an oath of Him Who is True. To dare to command Him, Who never had to lay His hand on a Bible, because that Bible was written in His heart…, to dare to command Him, that He will now finally honestly say Who He is!
Yes, and then Jesus gives the Oath. This is the great moment that brings the curse upon Him, with all the punches and blows and spitting that He now has to endure. But that Oath of His brings us grace. Because then He indeed desired that there would be no doubt about Him for eternity, THAT HE wants to be the Redeemer of this deceiving world.
Do you hear that well? Jesus gave us the Oath on it. And the sacraments that He instituted come to remind us and our children continually: I am he, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Do you hear well, young people? Jesus has given the Oath that He will not be separated from you… How terrible it will be if we ever try to avoid Him on that great Day. What do you plan to say then? Lord, I must have misunderstood in church… I thought You did not mean it when You called me so clearly….!
Then you will now understand further, why among the disciples, that is in the church of Jesus Christ (so: among us!) it must be finished with every unholy game in this area of oaths. If a Christian must be recognized by one thing, then certainly by this, that his yes is: yes; and his no is an honest; no. With God, and with the Son of God, you always know where you are at with Him. But the same now also applies to every child of God. A Christian is also someone with whom you always know where you are at with him!
It has been said before in this sermon: the Sermon on the Mount does not only give us a lofty future ideal; it is also not advice, an “evangelical counsel” for spiritually advanced people who can do without the oath. The Sermon on the Mount is also not a piece of ethics for “within the church walls”.
Of course it is true that within the church walls there is no place for the oath, because here we may stand so immediately in the holy proximity of God’s love. Imagine that we were to ask young people to take an oath when making their Public Profession of Faith. And a bride and groom may suffice here with a simple ‘yes’, with which they remain faithful to each other for the full hundred percent. And parents do not have to swear an costly oath on their part during the sacrament, the Oath of Baptism.
But this does not mean at all that the Sermon on the Mount has no validity outside the walls of the church. Or would life in the broad world be entirely removed from the purpose of Christ and His kingdom? Business is business, yes! But even in business one must know what one has in a Christian!
In certain countries it is customary for someone to take an oath to be prepared for it by a spiritual counsellor. Sometimes that can be very necessary. Just as the use of the oath itself can be very necessary in a deceitful society. The Saviour never denied that.
But the FACT of the oath, of the oath of God AND the oath of man, remains a terrible fact. Therefore, let us never make an unholy game of that oath, as it was with the Jews, and as it regularly happens today in certain secret societies. Playing with the oath means playing with the truth of the Blood of Christ. And there is only one truth.
Therefore every citizen of the kingdom of heaven, who has become Christ’s property through His blood and Spirit , will know the prayer and the ardent desire to stand in the truth in such a way that he will already now be recognized by others as a friend of Jesus and a child of faithfulness.
In the Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus, which laments the tyranny that wounds the heart, we also find that beautiful line of prayer: “that I may remain pious…!” And the Dutch national anthem has taken this line directly from the Old Testament: “that sincerity and piety may protect me”.
Yes, this is the struggle of the Christian who believes in God and His covenant promises, to now also live simply every day in His faithfulness. Let the yes that you say be yes, and the no, no. What goes beyond that is from evil.
We must pay attention to the fact that the Saviour does not say: what goes against the truth (the untruth) is evil. Of course that is also correct. But the Saviour says something else… whatever goes beyond the truth…!
Now is the time to examine ourselves! Or don’t you know those moments of weakness when you apparently feel the need to underline the truth with an extra swear word?
The great reformers, Luther and Calvin, both had as their motto the ‘Coram Deo’, to be allowed to live as in God’s immediate presence. After all, a child of God would not want to choose anything less. But who would argue that this life in the high tension of “always being with God” would not require daily diligence?
On the other hand : the unspeakably wonderful privilege of a life, directly with God, may also cost us everything. Or not…?
A true Christian will always want to be true. That is quite a task. But that task is generously fulfilled by the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, and who wants to capture our praying and singing and listening as a sacrifice that ascends as a sweet savour to the Father.
Yes, Lord, lead us further into that Kingdom which does not consist of great words and costly rules, but in peace, righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Amen.